- That is not what I meant.
- I’m going to go running tomorrow morning.
- It’s getting late, we should get going.
- Don’t be crazy, I love those pants.
- No, you didn’t wake me up.
- Of course I’ll eat the leftovers.
- Your baby was an angel. Slept the whole time.
- No, I’m not bothered at all.
- I’ll talk to you soon.
- I never said that.
- That? No, you can’t even see it.
- Everything is going to be alright.
- Yes doctor, I floss once a day.
- No, I don’t mind splitting my meal with you.
- I’ll just be two minutes.
- Don’t worry about it, we’ll read scriptures tomorrow.

Rusty, you know what your mom always said: “If you lie to me once, then I can’t ever again trust what you say.”

Sometimes a lie is a lie, sometimes it’s a statement that just doesn’t tell the whole truth, sometimes it’s the truth with a lie mixed in….like Satan telling Eve that she wouldn’t die if she partook of the fruit…she did, but she didn’t, but then later she did.

So Rusty, are you saying we shouldn’t lie or we shouldn’t say things like you quoted?

Insightful post, but I have the same type questions as dad, Russ. What do you mean by the “truth will set you free” is a lie? Long run/short run? Whole truth is not always ok? I’m lieing and I like it because it makes life easier?

Don & Bret,
My point is twofold: 1) I think it’s a fallacy to believe that complete truth all the time is always ideal. There are just some truths that can’t be uttered, no matter how tactful you say them. 2) Everybody lies. We may not lie about big things, but we often lie in order to keep peace, or to help someone feel good, or to avoid an escalation in argument or whatever. That’s just part of the politics and negotiations of living a happy and peaceful life.

Rusty, I think you’re right. I just wonder how Jesus would answer the question: “Does this dress make me look fat?” (And telling her about her sweet spirit doesn’t count, it isn’t answering the question.)

Truth becomes inconvenient when we build a reputation for ourselves out of pride. But if we are humble then we are immune to attacks on our reputation–which technically only exist to be worshipped when we are prideful. Truth is always ideal–when the whole is humble–but not ideal if we’re disillusioned with pride. Pride is based in comparison. One cannot be prideful without first making a comparison of sorts. A question like, “Does this make me look fat?” so often begets a comparison to another ideal. If I answered, “it makes you look fat,” and she angered, then she would not have been honest with herself, for she will have convinced herself that my comment was attacking her image, which self-idol she might not have had were she humble. The pride is the lie. When you convince yourself that you are superior to “them”, you are then puffed up in lies. Any truth at that point will be anything but ideal.
Gideon destroyed his father’s idols thereby gaining many enraged enemies–he destroyed an image that they worshipped. They sought his life because of his blatant disrespect. Today we often worship our own image, as taught by our media, or someone else’s image like Shiz and his giant bro Lib. Pride is similar to worshipping yourself, and destroying the pride of someone else will make them vengeful against you. Yet truth is still ideal, if you would stand with god. All were offended by Enoch, the “wild man” missionary. Laman and Lemuel didn’t appreciate truth but pride. Messiah destroyed the pride of many by being truthful, gaining many offended enemies. He came to give us a sword and forsake [pride]; metaphorically, it was a sword of truth. I think his gift is ideal.

So often we are ensnared by our own self-deception. In a garden if you let a weed alone, it will be very difficult to uproot. Carnal things grow without work and give us strange fruits without effort, but they require some truth to pervert. They are wed to idleness. Humility requires work daily, to uproot the daily weeds of pride (the fog is everywhere, even over the iron rod). If you did not know it, then the disadvantage is yours. But truth is free, without price and unbiased. Many know not where to look, but they seek the knowledge that would deliver them from their bondage of darkness.

The truth that shall set you free is knowledge which shall enable you to work in your garden-heart. The higher the law that we receive, then the higher our potential to be like god will be. Or in other words, the more truth we get then the more knowledge we will have in becoming like god.

So, one way of thinking about it is that the truth will set us free from the lie or self-deceptive way of living.